LI firefighters trained in combating brush fires

Lew A. Corbett III, with the Shelter Island Fire Department is on board a brush truck as it makes it's way through a forest in Ridge during a training course on Saturday, March 22, 2014. Photo Credit: Randee Daddona

Lew A. Corbett III, with the Shelter Island Fire Department is on board a brush truck as it makes it's way through a forest in Ridge during a training course on Saturday, March 22, 2014. (Credit: Randee Daddona)

Shelter Island firefighter Lew Corbett was driving his department's hulking brush truck in the woods when he saw the sign.

"Do you feel lucky?" it said. A black arrow pointed left.

Corbett yanked the steering wheel in that direction, putting himself and the 52-year-old truck through a harsh test.

Driver and truck -- outfitted with a giant roll cage to protect firefighters in case...

"We saw a need for a formalized training for brush trucks on Long Island," said Willie Cirone, an instructor with the New York Wildland Academy who led the training. "The need is not only in driving the trucks, but understanding weather, fire behavior and the different [fire] fuels on Long Island."

In the classroom last weekend, firefighters learned about brush fires and how to keep themselves safe when the wind shifts and a fire quickly changes course.